Like a Bug
by DoublyToxicWaste
Summary: Strange things are happening in six-year-old Candace Flynn's hometown - things the funny man on television talks about. She's not sure why her parents seem a little upset about him taking away all the 'suffrage'... what does that even mean? Besides, didn't he just say that he was closing all the schools forever? Now there's a reason to celebrate. Warning: Character Death


Candace was happy. It was a good day. The sky was very blue, save for a few scattered dark clouds (Mommy had called them… 'smog', right? She wasn't sure what the difference was between that and the other clouds, though.) Most happy of all was the fact that she was going to be seven whole years old in just a few more days. There were few enough now that she could count them on both hands without running out of fingers.

She didn't have to count on her fingers, of course, but sometimes she got confused. They always made it easy to remember.

It was summer-time warm and best of all, there was no school! Not because of summer vacation, though. Last night the whole family had gathered around the big old TV in the living room and watched as a strange man with a funny voice said that there was to be no more school; not now, not ever! He'd also said something about 'gov-irn-meant rep-pre-sent-ation' or something, but she had been too excited by then to really listen to that part.

She didn't know why, but did that really matter? Mommy had looked sad. Dad had looked worried. He'd said something about 'I worry about where this is going'. And then Mommy had said 'But we can't leave… you know. Can't.'

Candace didn't know what all that meant. She was thrilled. No more school! She'd never been fond of it anyway. And now she never had to go back! Ever! She could stay at home and play with her toys, with Ducky Momo, with Perry, the soft platypus who barely moved – or even with her brothers. Though Candace didn't really like the games they played. They were always so annoying! Sometimes she tried to get Mommy to come and stop them from being annoying, but whenever Mommy looked, they weren't being annoying.

Candace didn't know how that worked, either. Or how, for only sleeping all day, that platypus got hurt as much as he did? He always looked so hurt nowadays. It made Candace feel bad for him sometimes. When he wasn't being annoying and smelly.

But that didn't matter! Right now, she was going to Stacy's house. It was right up the street and would only take her a few minutes to walk there. There used to be cars and trucks in the roads ('Don't play in the road!' Mommy would say) but now there were none. She didn't know where they all went. Instead there was a big, funny-looking train that would drive by every now and then. Where had it come from?

She didn't know.

Sometimes there were also robots. They were really cool. They had nice hair and were always happy. But there were only a few of them, compared to all the times she'd seen the train.

It was funny-looking, though.

In her right hand she clutched a small, folded sheet of paper against the gusts of wind. It was a funny paper. Dad had given it to her a long time ago and said to never lose it. She hadn't, of course, though she didn't know what it was. There was a picture of the funny-looking man on the front! Candace liked to look at his funny nose and laugh.

She'd read the inside of the fold. It was kind of like a very small book–though a boring one, because there were no pictures. Except one of her! She could read good now, but there were so many big, confusing words on the paper, and they were hard to sound out. 'Iden-tifik-ashion'. What did that mean? She would look at it and laugh sometimes. It was just so silly. And then there was her own name, which she could read easily.

"Candace Ger… trude Flynn." That was her full name. "Stat-us. Child." She didn't know what that was for. "Threat level. Min-i-mal." There was also something about "Usa-bil-ity: Rank 0. Ex-spend-able."

Stacy had one too. In fact, everyone had one with their own little picture inside them. (That was how you knew which one was yours! Since they all looked the same from the outside.) And like Dad had said, it was very important that you never, ever, ever lost yours. She didn't know what would happen if she did, but probably her Mommy would get sad, and Dad would just shake his head and say 'I'm not angry, with you Candace. Just very… disappointed.'

There was this girl who went to the same school as Candace. One day, she'd left her paper on her desk. Candace had given it to the teacher (because that was what you were supposed to do, right?) and the teacher had only made a funny face and said something about 'another one', while looking just so sad. Why look so sad? Candace had wondered. She could just give it back to the girl the next day.

Candace hadn't ever seen that girl again, actually.

Oh well! Skipping gaily, she swiftly covered the rest of the distance to Stacy's house and knocked on the door. Maybe they would play a game. There was only one game to play anymore, but it was pretty fun. What was it called again?

Doofopoly.

It was a fun game, though you didn't get to move your little guy around a lot. Mostly you just spun zeroes. And sometimes drew cards. 'Conform' they all said. Candace was good at conforming, she thought. Whatever it meant. Maybe she should ask her parents one day.

"Stacy!" she greeted excitedly as her friend opened the door. "Do you wanna play a game?"

"Candace!" Stacy exclaimed. "Of course! Did you bring Doofopoly?"

Candace's smile faltered. "Wha- what about your box? Can't we just use that one?"

Stacy, too, frowned. "I broke the spinner, though. I… I stepped on it." She made a little bit of a pouty face, crossing her arms. "And Mom says we can't get a new until the ration train comes."

"The funny-looking train?" Candace giggled thinking about it, lifting her spirits slightly. "That's okay! We can use my box. We'll just have to run over and get it, though. It won't take long. Come on!"

"Oh, oh, okay!" the other girl returned, bouncing up and down slightly. "Wait! I need to get my ID."

"ID?"

"ID! It's what Mom calls those papers we have to carry. IDs. I don't know what it stands for, though. Just wait one second for me." She turned and dashed off into the house, leaving Candace alone on the porch.

What did 'ID' stand for anyway? Maybe it stood for… Interesting… Dogs? Once Candace had had a dog. It's name was Bucky. But then Dad had said that Bucky had to go away and live on Kindly Old Man Simmons' farm. She'd seen the farm, too. It was nice place. She hoped Bucky was happy there. Did Kindly Old Man Simmons' play with Bucky, she wondered? Bucky always liked to play. Well, for a while before he'd left he didn't play as much as he used to, but he did always love to chew on that red ball.

"I'm ready!" the exclamation burst abruptly into Candace's thoughts as the other girl arrived on the porch again, panting, her face a little red from running through the house. "And I got my paper." She exuberantly patted the front pocket of the gray overalls she was wearing – the same overalls Candace had on. Well, that everyone had. Candace thought it was pretty cool. They were like twins, right?

Stacy loved to shove stuff into the front pocket, even though Candace was pretty sure nothing was supposed to be in there. Every time she put something in there, it got stuck. Every time. It was annoying.

The two girls set off across the road, chattering happily about the no school. Wasn't it great? Tomorrow was Thursday and no school! No school ever! Candace threw up her arms and ran in a circle around her friend, who giggled happily as they chanted the words together. 'No school! No school!'

" **Please show me your papers**."

The sudden voice, cheerful and loud, shattered the air around them like the time Candace had smashed that vase by accident with a ball. She didn't have that ball anymore – some of these big robots had taken it away shortly after. She'd cried, trying to tell them that it'd been an accident, really it had, but they didn't listen. She was more careful nowadays.

" **Please show me your papers or be destroyed** **.** "

Candace blinked, but she knew what to do. It was fine. Mommy and Dad had sat her down one night and told her very slowly – like she was just a kid. She wasn't! She was going to be seven. Phineas and Ferb, now they were kids.

She reached into her overalls' pocket and pulled out her folded paper – the ID – holding it up for the friendly robot man to see. He was quiet for a minute (was he reading it?) and then he spoke suddenly, almost making Candace jump.

" **Your papers are acceptable** ," his head turned slightly, until he was looking at Stacy now. " **Please show me your papers** **.** "

Stacy reached down inside her overalls' front pocket for her paper, but she didn't pull them out.

"What're you doing?" Candace asked curiously.

"It's stuck," she replied. "I don't wanna rip it, but this button is in the way." She flashed a smile at the friendly robot man. "Gimme a second."

" **Please show me your papers or be destroyed**."

"I'm trying, I just don't wanna rip 'em," Stacy repeated. "Oh! I got- shoot!" She yanked her hand up, free at last, but the paper slipped from her fingers and got blown away by the wind. "Hang on, I'll just go grab them for you."

" **Leaving a domicile without papers is impermissible. Attempting to flee security patrols is impermissible.** "

Stacy pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry. But I'll just go get them – look, they're right there, stuck in that bush. Now the wind won't push them away. Just wait right here."

She took a single step away, and the friendly, smiling head of the robot man suddenly disappeared, getting covered up by one all black-and-red that kinda looked scary. When it spoke again, it's voice was a little harsher, the words deeper and more… rumble-y, like echoes, almost. Candace was slightly startled – she'd always thought these robots were friendly. They always smiled, after all.

" **Do not attempt to flee. You have no papers, and have left your assigned domicile. For this, you will be destroyed**."

Candace blinked, watching as the robot man raised it's arm. There was a second or two of a funny little buzzing sound and then a flash of light like the time Phineas accidentally shone that flashlight in her eyes and then she was wet and slimy and – and – and – and…

The head changed again, the friendly smiling one back again, it's voice as happy as ever, despite the red smear splattered all over the front of it, all over the street, all over Candace.

" **You may now go about your day. Hail Doofenshmirtz**." It turned and floated away almost silently, leaving Candace alone.

She stared.

The breeze blew past, tickling her neck with the strands of hair it tossed about.

She stared.

It was kind of hot, out under the sun.

She stared.

Stacy's Mom would be expecting them back.

She stared.

"St – Stacy?"

There was no answer. Of course there wasn't. There was only… only a giant red smear on the pavement, curls of steam wisping upwards, driven before the wind.

She stared.

She'd thought that Mommy and Dad could help. Maybe they would tell her what happened? Maybe they would… she didn't know what they would do? But they always managed to make things better, even that time she'd been so sad about having to get rid of all her pretty clothes for the dull gray overalls.

But they didn't. She wondered if they even noticed what happened? When she'd walked home that night, Mommy was crying on the couch, and Dad was patting her on the shoulder, saying softly. 'It'll be okay, dear, it's only a week. The Doofen-factories, they… can't be that bad, right? And you know what they'll do if I don't go."

They were having an… an adult conversation. If she interrupted, they would just send her away. So she walked upstairs instead, where her brothers were talking to each other. Well, mostly Phineas, talking to both Ferb and Perry. (As if the animal could understand him.)

"Hai, Candisss!" he announced, upon seeing her walk past their bedroom door.

She hated it when her brother mispronounced her name. It was even worse than when they were annoying her in other ways – with those little toys they used to have. (At least watching them play Doofopoly wasn't annoying. She'd kinda gotten used to that.)

"Hi," she said, not stopping, moving down the hall towards her own room, until she hauled herself on her bed and just… sat there. Sat there for a really long time, waiting for Mommy and Dad to be done with the adult conversation. Sat there, not really sure what to do, struggling to make sense of what happened.

She eventually fell into a deep and fitful sleep, and when she woke up, both Mommy and Dad were gone. Phineas informed her cheerfully that Dad had ridden off in the train and that Mommy was sitting in the basement, and that she'd said to leave her alone.

Oh.

She became aware of a mild hunger, and thought about going downstairs and seeing what flavor ration cubes were left. But she wasn't… thathungry, really. She just wanted to sit here, on the bed.

The red goop was still on her, hardened onto her skin and set in large stains on her overalls. She shook her head, but every time she closed her eyes, there was that – that man. Well, the robot man. He'd been so friendly. So nice. And then…

The humming.

The flash of light.

The slime, splashed everywhere.

The yucky smell.

Stacy, one moment there, one moment… not. Only red goop left behind, smeared onto the road, looking almost like jam on toast rather than… whatever it was.

What was it?

Stacy was gone. That was all that was left.

Candace lifted her hand to face, smelling one of the hardened flakes congealed onto the surface of her own skin. It was… it smelled all metal-y. Like she was smelling a… bunch of money or something. She bit her lip, hard for a moment.

That metal-y sensation was back, seeping over her tongue, trickling down the back of her throat.

Blood.

Candace knew what blood was. Mommy always said it was supposed to stay inside you. She would smile as she said that, sometimes putting bandages on Candace's scrapes and bruises. After the robot men had taken away all the bandages and stuff, she didn't do that anymore, but she did still kiss it better, and it always seemed to work, right?

It was blood.

She blinked, standing up and crossing her room, looking out the window. From a vantage point on the top story, she could see that giant red stain on the street. She leaned on the windowsill, straining her eyes, ignoring the taste in her mouth.

She suddenly became aware of a spider crawling across the windowsill, too. (This happened a lot now. Dad sometimes said there was once a man who came around called an 'exterminator', but he'd stopped coming.) Candace hated spiders. She was terrified of them.

She stared at this one, not more than six inches away from her, watched it crawl across the windowsill with its disgusting legs.

She stuck out her thumb, held it squarely above the bug, and then mashed downwards, flattening it in an instant, crushing it like… something. Something easily crushed. A tiny spurt of faintly reddish fluid oozed from beneath her thumb, from the flattened body of the bug. Blood.

"It's dead," she said to no one.

She blinked, her focus shifting back up from the red smear on the street: Stacy.

"It's dead."


End file.
